So I tried toasting some rice in the frying pan. It's really easy and fast! I was surprised!

The rice doesn't look like the Genmai cha rice, nor does it taste like it, but it's not bad as a snack. The tea just ends up tasting like burnt popcorn.

I tried Jasmine and Sticky rice, and the Sticky is definitely more Genmai cha-like. I found I had better luck if I rinsed the rice several times before I toasted it. It also absorbed a bit of water and they softened up a bit, even after toasting, so they make a great snack food.

I'm still experimenting too. I have done some very light roasts and some more medium and darker roasts... tried some wild rice blends and the darker pieces were difficult to NOT scorch, but they tasted really good in the infusion. I think it all depends on the flavor you are after.

I've done stovetop firing, and most recently I tried oven roasting slowly, which took forever and did NOT produce better results. I will be going back to the stovetop from now on, where I think I have much better control and much faster roasting.

Oh I kept wondering for a few days and kept forgetting to ask this - do you guys all use shelled, or unshelled rice/barley when you diy genmaicha or mugicha? Some look like shelled on the photo, some look like unshelled, but I am not sure. If it's shelled, I guess after drinking, we can keep eating?

I got some roast corn "tea" from Korean grocery the other day. After brew it for a few steeps, I ate some left over corns from the tea. It's quite edible, lost most of its flavor, but totally edible

Janine wrote:Teaguru, you can buy bags of the roasted rice at Japanese or Korean grocery stores.

What's the fun of that? IMHO, I think once you have the notion of making your own, it is hard to go back to just buying it. Creating all different levels of roasts with different types of rice (and barley too).

Besides, many of us do not have the option of shopping at a Japanese or Korean market.

Funny thing is, I often thought throwing some Rice Krispies cereal in with sencha would offer the same taste as a lot of the genmaicha I have had in the past.

sorry 2 dig up an old post but while searching ebay for a yixing pot i found this: roasted brown rice tea CAFFEINE FREE genmaicha organic I wont post the link because I would hate 2 look like a spammer. Just pm me or search ebay.

After drinking some genmaicha I wanted to roast my own rice too. However I did not have any....but I did have coarse #2 bulgar/cracked wheat. I decided to give this a try just for kicks. Roasted it just like you would the rice. It tastes exactly like the gen especially when I ground it up. Wow...tasty. Thought you might like to know there is another route.

Bought roasted Korean corn, I would have no clue what kind of unroasted corn to buy tbh.

Oh, and do not laugh, I bought plain ole black beans at the Korean market on Saturday. I roasted them and added them to a mix since I was a little scared to try them straight. I saw them at the market and remember reading black beans in a Lupicia mix, but here it was black SOY beans, oh well. In the mix, it seemed to work, and I will try it straight.

I have pan fired, and have just tried using a hot air popcorn popper with success.